Blog

The countryside in Britain is exceptionally beautiful at the moment and so too are the parks close to home in urban Bristol.On an exceptionally sunny day I went out for a walk from home in the hope of doing some bird photography but soon realised that I had the wrong camera/lens as it was the trees and the landscapes which I needed to be photographing. I tried to make do.

The path in to Stoke Park from Stapleton

Moorhen with chicks on the small pond next to Duchess Pond

The small pond and then Duchess Pond with views of the restorative work being done in the background

A grey heron on the flooded part of Stoke Park (hard to imagine today that we have had so much rain)

This grey heron was clearly more nervous than the ones in Eastville Park and flew off in the direction of Filton imagining itself to be Concorde

All the blossom was looking amazing

Buttercups are now at their best

Dandelions have had their day

… or have they?

Red Clover standing out amongst the greens and yellows

The Dower House which dominates this part of the city looking better for being shrouded with trees

A view from the top of Stoke Park with the houses (including ours) hidden by the trees

A glorious place for a stroll so close to the city

… or to fly your kite

… or to see the verdant suburb below

Wide open spaces just to stroll right next to a housing estate

Lots of butterflies (here a small copper) everywhere

My lens certainly couldn’t do justice to the trees of Eastville Park justice.

And really I was too close for these Canada geese with chicks

… or at least that’s what these two protective parents felt.

A duckling living perilously on its own

A more tolerant grey heron here in Eastville Park

 

Volunteers have done wonders controlling these along the River Frome

Still lots of ramsons to be seen

You don’t want to get confused with these type of plants – probably cow parsley but could be poison hemlock

The best of them all: the candles of the horse chestnut

Beech tree

Herb Robert (but I think this is Red Campion?) was the most observed species in the recent first global City Nature Challenge (see link below)

Perhaps it’s not so surprising that Bristol and Bath were best in Europe for first global City Nature Challenge

http://www.bnhc.org.uk/bristol-bath-best-europe-first-global-city-nature-challenge/

Click below for gallery of photos from my walk today:

Another lovely 12 k walk through the Mediterranean scrubland from our hotel to the tiny port at Cala Alcafar and back.

We saw very few birds (just a couple of gulls, a few swallows and 2 swifts) until we were within 20 metres of our hotel when, magically, a flock of bee eaters appeared on the wire in the next field. As I was photographing them a linnet also appeared on the wire. As soon as I turned round we saw a Thekla’s lark on another wire and it took to the air and flew very much like a sky lark.

About the sum of the birds we had seen until the very last moment.

Our path through the Mediterranean scrubland

Not many birds on our walk but plenty of wildlife

I had been hoping all week to see bee eaters

Linnet

Thekla’s lark

Encouraged by seeing the bee eaters I also took a couple of photos of the swallows nesting in the hotel reception.

Wonderful!

Click below for gallery of photos from today (including lots of lichen as I hadn’t seen many birds!)

S’Albufera des Grau in the north-east of the island was declared a National Nature Park in 1995 and covers around 5,100 hectares. There is a good visitors centre and a circuit of paths with many viewing points and hides. However, a telescope would be desirable as you are some way back from the lake and the dismal weather did not help photography. The main bird life at this time of the year are coots but we did see little grebe, great crested grebe, little egrets, one redshank and a purple heron (first for me). There were also yellow-legged gulls with their chicks and some Audouin gulls. We kept our eyes peeled for osprey but had no luck; however, I did spot a hobby flying over the lake.

Hobby

Little grebe

Great crested grebe

Yellow legged gull

Yellow legged gull and chicks

Little egret

Purple heron

Purple heron

Purple heron

Great crested grebe

Great crested grebe

Great tit (and not a bird feeder in sight)

The port of Es Grau with sea front restaurants

Audouin gull

Back at the hotel the sun shone briefly and I took a few photos of swallows, butterflies and a green lizard.

Typical Menorcan gate made of old olive wood

Barn swallows

 

 

Oh to be a botanist! We have moved to the southeast coast of the island of Menorca and, although we saw many of the plants we had seen on our last few walks, we saw a greater diversity of plants today as we walked through farmland and then through the garrigue-like land down to the coast. On the long distance coastal path of Cami Cavalls it was noticeable that the plants were often different on the sea-side of the path even though the path was only a couple of metres wide. And what a spectacle too!

A few of my favourites:

As for bird life we heard lots of warblers but only had very fleeting views. At the coast we saw a solitary redshank, a couple of Audouin’s gulls, a couple of cormorants, a pair of linnets (clearly nest building) and then right at the end of our walk a Thekla’s lark and a couple of barn swallows outside the hotel’s reception.

Redshank with crab

Audouin’s gull

Female linnet

Male linnet

Thekla’s lark

Swallows

Plenty of butterflies about but I only managed to photograph this one:

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

After a coffee in the pretty port of Fornells on the north coast of the island we made our way towards the Cavalleria peninsula.

The port of Fornells

The wild flowers in the hedgerows along the narrow roads were stunning but, although we were often close enough to touch them, it was not sensible to stop to take photos. There were, however, plenty of opportunities to take photos of the flora and the fauna as we walked the long distance path (Cami Cavalls) along the fabulous section of the coastline from the sandy bay of Cavalleria to within sight of the golden beaches of Binimel-lá.

A sample of the hedgerows

Some of the amazing views of the beaches and coastline on our walk:

The best of the bird life:

Audouin’s gull

Richard’s pipit

Cormorant

Peregrine

Red kite

Linnet

Some of the flora:

Not sure if this constitutes a nature photo – locals taking mud baths at the beginning of our walk.

 

Menorca has the only resident population of Egyptian vultures in Europe (around 100 pairs) and so it would have been disappointing not to see them. We walked along the gorge from Santa Galdana on the south coast with wild flowers adorning the route to a backdrop of dramatic limestone cliffs and birdsong all around. We had sightings of booted eagle and black kites on our way and were well rewarded with good views of Egyptian vultures at the end of the gorge.

Egyptian vultures

Booted eagle

Black kite

On the return journey we also saw a kestrel, more views of booted eagles and kites and even a pair of little egrets. The most stunning aspect of this walk was the birdsong; we had no difficulty in recognising Cetti’s warbler but were grateful to some birders who pointed out nightingales and Siberian chiffchaff. The nightingales were everywhere and filled the valley with their birdsong. Not that we saw them; most of the small birds were quite elusive except for house sparrows nesting in the cliffs and spotted flycatchers.

Spotted flycatcher

Kestrel

Little egret

There has been a lot of rain in Menorca recently and the meadows are quite lush and the wildflowers amazing. We regularly saw three types of butterfly (wall, brimstone and a blue one), dragonflies, and an amazing grasshopper the size of a locust.

Lush meadows

Amazing wildflowers

The end of the walk brought us right in to the resort of Cala Galdena on the long distance walk of Cami Cavalls part of which we had walked the previous day.

The Cami Cavalls (long distance footpath) follows the coast of Menorca.

Cala Galdana

Cala Galdana

Views of Cala Macarella on the Cami Cavalls long distance route on Saturday 5th May

Another bitterly cold day but not too bad for a walk through the woods, especially as I soon warmed up climbing the hill in to the woods in Stoke Park.

There was a grey heron on the flooded fields at the bottom of the hill.

Grey heron

In the woods I saw a great spotted woodpecker, a jay, and three blue tits.

Blue tit

It was interesting to see the work they have been doing in the park; removing the brambles and planting new trees. The work has been quite controversial amongst locals but to me it seems as though it’s going to be much better.

However, the wood carvings in the wood are a big hit.

I followed the ridge along Purdown and had good views of Stapleton Church and Colston’s School (where I had spent all my working life and reflected that this month 50 years ago I had turned up for interview).

Holy Trinity Church, Stapleton where peregrines can be regularly seen

Colston’s School

Most people were clearly at work by now

I dropped down to Eastville Park and saw three robins and two wrens early on.

There was no sign of the usuals (kingfisher, dipper, and grey wagtail) which was rather disappointing. However, I saw 2 coal tits singing very loudly and a tree creeper, which was a real bonus.

The Canada geese had taken the perching spot of the grey heron on the lake and seemed to be showing a very strange way of showing affection. The mute swans were much more placid.

Bluebells and ramsons were evident in both parks.

A 5.2 mile walk  on a Monday morning was certainly better than being at work.

 

I remember going to Slimbridge when I was a child and not being terribly impressed; how we change as we get old! Now I always enjoy a trip here and love the duality of it: the serious birdwatching opportunities from the excellent hides and the close-up opportunities of seeing wildfowl from all around the world in the pens. I also love seeing how much children enjoy being there.

We had less than two hours on a very cold morning but had lots to see and it was lots of fun. The best from the hides were common cranes looking to prepare a nest, avocets everywhere, my first sight of ducklings this year and some coot (or cute) chicks.

Common crane

Avocets

First ducklings of the year

Coot chicks

In the pens, despite the cold, the black-winged stilts were showing that spring is on the way.

Black-winged stilts

Redshank

Knot

Knot

Great close-up views of waders: redshank, knot and avocets

There are still Bewick swans to be seen.

And some of my favourites:

Goldeneye

Eider

Female smew

Male smew

Pochard

And lots of fun for children:

Click below for gallery of today’s photos:

It rained all day and mid afternoon I made a decision to go for a walk anyway. I was so lucky as it soon stopped raining and I had a really pleasant walk up through the woods at the top of Stoke Park.

At first, near Duchess Pond, there was a noisy song thrush calling to another one.

Song thrush calling

I saw two swallows flashing across Duchess Pond and as I moved across to the flooded area they followed me.

The area to the side of Duchess Pond is really quite flooded at the moment and I saw a few mallard swimming in the field (so to speak). There was cuckoo flower everywhere – on a sunny day I would have hoped to see some orange tip butterflies.

In the woods at the top of the park the bluebells looked wonderful even on such a gloomy day and I was also pleased to see the ramson in blossom.

There was even some forget-me-knots in the wood.

I saw (and heard) two chiffchaff and then had a distant view of a great spotted woodpecker. As I progressed through the wood I saw the woodpecker again.

All through the wood I heard lots of robins but only saw four.

 

I’m not sure about this plant but could be habernia peramoena.

There were also lots of these (anemones I think) in the bluebell woods but difficult to tell as they had their heads down due to the rain.

 

Click below for gallery of photos from this afternoon.

We spent the day at Chew Valley, renewing our birdwatching passes and visiting Villice Bay and Herriots Bridge.

We did consider trying to get a bite to eat at the Lakeside Café but, even though we did find one free parking slot, we baulked at the thought of competing with the hundreds of visitors (mainly there for the fish and chips). In comparison, we were the only customers at the new outdoor coffee kiosk next to Woodford Lodge.

At Villice we saw great crested grebe, tufted ducks, coots and barnacle geese, a passerine I couldn’t make out, a pair of mallards making their way through the undergrowth going about what mallards do at this time of year and a grey heron. However, the best was the orange-tip and peacock butterflies and the flowers in the meadow en route to the hide.

Male orange-tip

Peacock butterfly

Geranium molle, the Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill or Dovesfoot Geranium

Cardamine pratensis (cuckooflower, lady’s smock or milkmaids)

Anacamptis morio, the green-winged orchid or green-veined orchid

Bluebells (hyacinthoides non-scripta)

Great crested grebe

Prunella vulgaris (known as common self-heal, heal-all, woundwort, heart-of-the-earth, carpenter’s herb, brownwort and blue curls)

Barnacle goose

Primula veris (cowslip, common cowslip, cowslip primrose). In French it is commonly known as cuckoo.

Mallards

Grey heron

At Herriots there were lovely displays of  male behaviour from the mute swans and the Canada geese. On the other hand, two more barnacle geese were behaving quite serenely.  There was a distant buzzard, some splendid great black-backed gulls (and other gulls too), more tufted duck, a few shelduck and shovelers and I heard a cuckoo (my first of the year).

Great back-backed gulls

Tufted duck

Canada geese

Barnacle goose

Buzzard

Mute swan

Canada geese

Shelduck

Tufted duck

Click below for gallery of photos from today at Chew plus a goldfinch in the garden before we left:

Lower Woods between Wickwar and Hawkesbury Upton off Inglestone Common in Gloucestershire is one of the largest ancient woodlands in the south-west of England and covers three square kilometres. The reserve has 23 woods and coppices whose boundaries have remained unchanged for several centuries. This is normally an excellent time to visit the woods to see the bluebells. However, the views would have benefited from some sunshine and the paths, which were still very muddy, could certainly have done with some drying out. Neil, the very helpful wood warden, advised us that walking boots and not wellies would be okay – fake news (I think he was confused by his excitement of seeing a beautiful old Landrover arrive as the same time as us).

We only covered 8 kilometres but our boots were so clogged up that the inclines seemed much more arduous than on our previous visits and we were quite weary at the end and glad to get back. Its my view that the woods are prettier when the bluebells are just dying back and the ransoms (which were about to flower) are in full bloom. Tempting to go back in a few weeks but I fear we are bound to get more rain and have to cope with even more muddy paths.

Neil was confused by his excitement of seeing this old Landrover – he had three Landrovers of his own in the yard.

Walking boot terrain – I think not especially when it started raining

The bluebells would have looked better with sunlight filtering through

Wood anemones, violets, primroses and lesser celendine complemented the bluebells.

The ramsons were so close to blooming

The dandelions are certainly at their best at the moment

Click below for gallery of photos from today

On a misty, murky morning before the sun burnt through I walked across Clifton Down. There wasn’t much bird life but I was interested in seeing the goats in The Gully. Originally there was a flock of 6 goats serving a useful purpose of nibbling away at the scrub (see full story); unfortunately there are only now 4 goats as 2 have been killed by dogs allowed into the enclosure. So sad.

The only interesting bird – a wren.

However, the blue (and white) bells, wood violets and yellow archangels cheered me up.